


two souls on fire

by tangents



Series: where soul meets body [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anxiety, Canon Compliant, Coming Out, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, you can feel a soulmate's pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-05-21 05:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangents/pseuds/tangents
Summary: Will’s damned if Nico di Angelo isn’t made for saving the world, a battle cry on the edges of his lips and an undead army tugging at the ends of his fingers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so we had the [nico soulmate character study](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14163924) so here comes will's, but with a different type of soulmate au

Will Solace doesn’t have a soulmate.

Everybody else has one. He sees people pause for a moment during class as they feel a papercut from across the globe. He can see them walking next to each other with identical limps. He still remembers that time that Mary-Anne accidentally stapled her finger, and Samira almost fell out of her chair from across the room.

The concept of soulmates has been around since the beginning of time. His teachers talk about the Greek myth (internally, Will corrects them — Greek _history_ ) where a person was born with two faces, two sets of arms, two hearts. Zeus, fearful of the idea of human ambition and power, clutched his power to his chest with a simple order to Apollo (Will’s dad), who promptly tore humanity in half.

Life, then, is a search for your other half. The person who changes your life the most. Your lover, your best friend, your worst enemy.

Life, then, is about feeling complete. Feeling pain when your soulmate does. Being one.

Will isn’t so sure he buys into the Greek story, because not everybody has a soulmate. Like him, or his mom, who says that Will is all that she needs. But Will isn’t like her, she knows that. He gets that from his father. His golden glow & sky blue eyes & penchant for wanting to be _liked._

Will has always wished that he got his mother’s strength, her constant smile, her unshakeable spine. Sometimes, he thinks that she wished that too. After all, she named him _Will._

Time goes on. Will starts to build that backbone. He is, after all, the child of a god.

Maybe that’s why he doesn’t have a soulmate. Gods spend their days teasing with humans, dipping in and out of what they consider love. Will may not know the kind of love that’s in movies, but he does know this: his mom working late nights to make sure she can make Will breakfast every day, his mom watching movies with him even when she’s tired, his mom dedicating her life to making sure that Will is happy. He’s never seen this kind of love from his father. Maybe it’s genetic.

Of course, that line of thought gets crushed when he goes to camp. But the first part doesn’t.

Will plays with his friends at recess, pushes down that flutter in his stomach as he tackles his friend Devon down to get the soccer ball — a completely illegal move, but who cares — and smiles at Millie Jones when she glances at him in the hallway. He likes the flush on her cheeks, he thinks. He likes _her._

He’s eleven when they kiss for the first time, and it’s the first time that Will thinks that it’s alright that he doesn’t have a soulmate. Plenty of people are happy without soulmates. Look at his mom. Look at his neighbor, Mr. Williams. Even if Millie was only his girlfriend for a week, because she got tired of sitting with him at lunch. Will gets over it by the time Devon and Toby finish playing a game of basketball with him.

Besides, Millie spends too much time talking about her soulmate. She has the special kind, you see, and she can actually _see_ every little injury. Most people only feel the pain, they don’t get the injury, but lucky Millie! She has them all! Though her soulmate doesn’t seem like they have very many scrapes, so Will doubts how much of the truth she’s actually saying.

Will tries to slam dunk the basketball one day, failing epically, and tumbles into the ground. Red blossoms over his leg. He’ll remember this moment for years to come, not just because it’s when he first realized he wants to heal people.

“ _Sick,_ Will.” Devon says in awe.

Will glances at Devon’s knee. It’s the same dark brown as always. He doesn’t know why he bothered to look.

He wonders if somewhere in the world, another kid is looking down at his leg, and wondering _why does my leg hurt so much?_ It’s the crazy spiral of hope that always swirls around in his stomach, the one that he only lets his mother see.

The next day, in the middle of class, Will’s finger starts stinging. There’s no paper cut to be found. Will blinks.

Toby sees him sticking his thumb in his mouth. “ _Dude.”_

“Papercut,” Will explains. Toby’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as Will takes his thumb out.

Then it hits him.

\---

Will doesn’t expect Nico di Angelo to be a short, scrawny kid his age. But he had been at home when Nico had first come to camp. While Nico was heady with the onslaught of a beginning, a new father, a dead sister, Will Solace was in Texas, heady with the sky and the heat and everything that was as close to summer as winter could manage.

So the first time Will sees Nico di Angelo is during war, red flashing in the corners of his vision and his second home falling to pieces in front of his eyes. For the gods, everybody claims, but Will doesn’t know how many people are just fighting for the family that’s dying around them.

Nico is an entirely different entity.

But Will’s damned if Nico di Angelo isn’t made for saving the world, a battle cry on the edges of his lips and an undead army tugging at the ends of his fingers.

Then Will continues on his way. There are people to heal, and that’s what Will’s made for.

\---

His mother is a musician. When he was little, Will used to grab her guitar and pluck at the strings discordantly. Time passed, and eventually his mom taught him the basics. He could never make it sound as natural as she did, though, but Naomi Solace breezes through life with a dimpled grin and a melody on the edges of her lips. When Will discovered his father was the god of music, it took years for a vague image of Apollo to appear at the strum of a guitar. The picture of the peace in his mother’s eyes is always a constant.

It’s three months after the Battle of the Labyrinth, and there’s the strum of a guitar from Kayla’s bunk. Will thinks of his mother’s fingers guiding his fingers over the strings for the first time, of learning music for the first time. His father is an afterthought.

Except now. Now, there’s a war going on, and the gods are on the forefront of their minds. Just like how his siblings are at the forefront of the battlefields, how the demigods are at the forefront of the dead. Here Camp Half-Blood is, fighting to save the gods while they watch from Olympus. Demigods on both sides, waging a war for people who never give them a second thought.

Lee’s golden shroud is permanently burnt into Will’s vision. Does Apollo even know his son is dead?

Kayla is still playing the guitar.

“Hey, Kayla,” he says, approaching her bed. She scoots over, humming in response, and Will slides into the spot she’s made. For a moment he doesn’t speak, instead drinking in the cabin. The red and blue hyacinths curve in the sunlight; the scent of sage lingers in Kayla’s sheets; a coat is thrown over Austin’s bed. Lee’s bunk is still cluttered with his things. With all the reparations going on, Michael hadn’t figured out a good time to clean it.

Will means to ask Kayla what she’s playing. But even as he’s sitting there, Kayla still keeps her fingers brushing over the strings, and a wave of homesickness washes over him. So, instead, what comes out is, “I miss my mom.”

He is thirteen.

“I miss my dad.”

She is eleven.

They’re all so _young._

“You know, one time, I got a really bad grade on my English project in school. It sounds stupid, I know, but it was like second grade, and I was super torn up about it.” Will pauses, thinks about the laughter from that spring day. “That’s the first day my mom taught me how to play the guitar.”

Kayla looks up at him with red eyes. “I learned when Lee showed me.”

Will’s breath catches in his throat. With all that’s going on, this is the first time that Will has truly allowed himself to think of his brother. And it’s only because Kayla’s caught him off guard, and her hands are shaking, and she looks like she’s about to start crying. And Kayla’s probably tougher than he is. She’s out on the battlefield, while Will stays behind to make sure that he can put together the pieces of whoever comes back.

“Lee— he died fighting. He’s in Elysium.” Will feels slightly better, knowing that his brother is safe and has no more wars to get involved in.

But Kayla isn’t. “He’s not _here,_ though.”

Both of them can’t stop looking at Lee’s bed. Will wraps his arms around his little sister as sobs wrack her body, and wishes that his mom was here. Even if only for a few minutes, even if only for the amount of time it would take her to give him one hug. Even if only for a second to say goodbye.

The door cuts open their silence as Austin and Michael walk in. There are serious looks on their face, and it’s hard to remember that they’re twelve and fifteen with the sorrow lined in their face. But whatever they’re talking about is quickly discarded.

Austin heads over to them; Michael goes over to Lee’s bed. Will thinks that he realizes it’s finally time to clean up.

“Kayla?” Austin holds his hand out to her, but her face is buried in Will’s shoulder. He looks at Will helplessly, so Will holds out a hand to his brother. Austin has calloused fingers from all the time he spends in the outdoors, shooting bows and fighting. None of it was enough to save their brother, Will thinks, but smiles anyways as Austin takes his hand. And he squeezes it when a tear slides down his cheek.

There are more of his brothers and sisters, of course. But this — this is the first time, in a really, _really,_ long while, that Will is finally himself. A smile isn’t plastered to his face. The weight of the world isn’t on his shoulders.

( That’s on Michael, who’s still cleaning Lee’s belongings and trying to pretend that he doesn’t want to join them. Michael doesn’t have time to cry, not when he’s trying to run the cabin. He’s trying to be strong, and Will makes a note to talk to him later. )

Finally, in the privacy of the Apollo cabin, his home, Will allows himself to grieve.

And it’s a long process. There’s the few months that he goes back to school, and tells his mom everything, falling into her hug. He cries for a long time, then. But then he has to go to camp, and then he has to go to battle. He has to watch as his family dies. Because Will has never been a fighter, he’s always been the person to try to piece everyone back together so they can go out back and try to die _again._ He wishes he could fight, but then he feels the fluttering heartbeat of a camper, slowly pulling itself back to normal because of his magic, and he takes it back.

Will heals Annabeth, and seeing Percy Jackson, he can tell that the two of them are soulmates. Percy can’t even stand up, but even without the pain, the look in his eyes is enough.

The worst thing is watching campers fall down two by two, two by two.

And then they burn Michael’s shroud, and the weight of the world is on Will. But he’s not like Michael, so he lets himself cry. Austin and Kayla cry with him.

There’s a point in time where he tries to get to know Nico di Angelo, the mysterious son of Hades who somehow brought a god to save them all. Some of the campers are bitter; the sentiments that caused so many to join Kronos haven’t completely faded out. After all — look at all the credit they got. But Nico seems to be having the time of his life, even with the scratch across his cheek, and Will doesn’t bother.

He’s healing, anyways. Becoming himself. He’s wiping away Kayla’s tears and nudging smiles onto Austin’s face, and in the emptiness of the Apollo cabin, grieving.

_Thanks, Dad._

\---

He hurts, sometimes. But his soulmate never shows up.

\---

In-between time is good. In-between time means that they don’t have to think about the war.

Unfortunately, Lou Ellen has decided to think about her soulmate instead. “What do you think he looks like?” she asks, brown eyes shining in the sunlight. They’re supposed to be prepping for training; instead, Will and Lou Ellen have decided to skive and hide behind the strawberry fields instead.

“Yours?” Will’s response is a little bit startled; he hasn’t come out to Lou Ellen yet. Or to anyone, really.

“Um, _duh.”_

Will pushes aside the burning in his chest in order to spin Lou Ellen a story. “You know, Lou, I bet that he looks like an elf. Evil pointy ears and all that. And spends all day holed up in a little cave. And tells jokes that aren’t funny. The male version of you.”

Lou Ellen shifts to look at him. “William Solace, are you saying that my soulmate is Leo Valdez?”

Only a beat skips past. “I said the male version of you, didn't I? He’s way too good for you.” She shoves him. “What? Hero of the prophecy and all that.”

“Oh, come _on,”_ Lou Ellen sighs, “I can snap my fingers, and boom - suddenly you’re in your underpants in front of the whole camp. What does dragon boy have that’s better than that?”

“A _dragon.”_

“Shit, you’re right.”

“I’d say he was even better if he ever actually showed up to activities.” Will remembers the first time he met Leo. Leo was older than him, yet he was still full of the fascination that most demigods had when they realized their true identity. None of that spark was left in any of the demigods that had fought in the Titan War.

Will is only fourteen, but sometimes he feels so much older.

“Anyways, onto you.” Lou Ellen has a sly look on her face, freckles popping off of her brown skin. “Your soulmate? I bet she’s going to be just as _sickly sweet_ as you are. Watch her name be like Honey, or Poppy, or _Baby_ —” Will shoves her. She breaks out into laughter. “Baby and Will. Waby. Bill. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

And maybe it’s because of the slight breeze in the wind and the way it’s teasing knots through both of their hairs, or maybe it’s the way the grass curls around their limbs, or _maybe_ it’s because Will feels like he’s laughed more than he has in these past few moments than he has in the past few years. Whatever reason, he speaks with a laugh and a waver in his undertone.

“Actually, when I was little, I used to think my soulmate was a kid named Devon.” His fingers twist around the grass.

“She sounds like some typical blonde white girl. I thought better of you, Will.” Lou Ellen’s laughing, but not really paying attention. The narrowing of her eyes shows that she’s more focused on trying to formulate a plan to steal strawberries than in what Will’s trying to say. Lou Ellen’s new, after all, fresh off the demigod boat.

“Yeah, well, we— we all make mistakes.” Will swallows and forces out a laugh.

Lou Ellen holds up a finger. “Pause this conversation for one sec, okay? I’m gonna go grab some strawberries, and try to make sure that the satyr patrol doesn’t catch me.” Will nods. “Okay, but if I get caught, you’re going down with me, just so you know!”

She springs up, just like that, and Will wonders what life would have been like if he never discovered he was a demigod, or hadn’t really found out until this year.

He’s fourteen, and he should be going to school right now. But attacks had gotten worse after the war, and it came to the point where he just didn’t want to put his mom in so much danger anymore. Even though it meant leaving her. But at least he can see her right now, staring up at the sky.

Everyone here’s always said that Will gets his eyes from his father, except for Austin. Austin had come to visit him once, back when Will was eleven and Austin was ten. Austin had looked at Will’s mom, and as soon as she left the room to heat up some pizza, looked at him with his solemn eyes and proclaimed, “You look exactly like your mama.”

Will watches Lou Ellen sneak up to the strawberries. She shoves some in her basket. There’s a wildness to Lou Ellen, something in the frizziness of her curls or the illicit piercing in the corner of her ears, or the way her smile tilts to the side. She’s pretty.

“Lou,” he starts under his breath, “I like girls.”

Will cocks his head to the side. “Well no shit,” he says, attempting his best imitation of Lou’s voice.

“But— but, I also like guys. Like, Devon, he was a guy.”

It’s the first time he’s tried this. But Lou Ellen is like him; she’s from Alabama, with a southern twang to her voice and a spring in her step. If anyone will understand feeling like you didn’t belong, it’s Lou Ellen. Plus, there’s only so much that Will can bottle in, and his siblings shouldn’t be the ones to see the output.

And Lou Ellen didn’t spend her childhood in a war. She spent it with her father.

“Hey, what’s up?” Her cheeks are tinted pink, and strawberries spill from her hands and into Will’s hands.

“Shit, Lou, how many did you take?” Will’s interrupted from his internal conflict by this development.

The pink on Lou Ellen flushes a deep red. “Ellis is always talking about how there’s never enough strawberries, I thought I’d give him some so that he shuts up.”

Will just nods.

“Do you not believe me or something?”

“Devon’s a boy,” Will blurts out.

He hadn’t had a chance to imagine Lou Ellen’s reaction. But whatever he could have thought of — an awkward hug, a long, dragging silence, an ugly chuckle — would have been extremely far from the truth. Because Lou Ellen’s in the middle of eating a strawberry. Seconds tick by as she finishes eating it. Neatly, she wipes her hands on her jeans to get rid of any juice.

Then, finally. “Okay, cool, looool.”

Will blinks. And then: “Did you just say LOL out loud?”

“Do you want to fight me, Will Solace?”

And that’s that.

\---

“So do you think Sherman’s your soulmate? Or Mitchell? Oh my gods, what about _Butch?_ Rainbow guy and sunshine dude, breaking hearts together?”

“I like girls too, Lou.”

“So it could be anyone. In this _whole_ camp.”

“ _And_ in the mortal world.”

“ _Chop chop_ , bitch. We better get looking then.”

\---

War is back. Every time that Will fights, he wonders how he ever thought that they’d have peace. And now, especially, with demigods fighting demigods, it’s almost like the fabric of the universe is tearing itself apart.

Well, that’s an exaggeration. But with the literal earth against them, their odds aren’t good. Especially for a medic whose only skill is healing and sonic whistles. Not to mention his soulmate’s constantly on the verge of death. Will’s always throbbing with injuries, his throat constricted in await of the next sharp pinch. Once, he was in the middle of training, and a sharp enough stab of pain in his head knocked him out. Another time, it felt as if he were being clawed to pieces. There was a single second where Will tried to give someone a shot, but he couldn’t feel his hands.

It was a good thing that nothing had happened when he was delivering Mellie’s baby; that would have been a hurdle and a half. A fifteen year old coaching a cloud nymph on giving birth. Inhale, exhale, he had told her, all the while trying to make sure he wasn’t blown away. Not to mention Hedge — he was an obstacle of his own.

But this is war, and he doesn’t have much more time to focus on his soulmate than it takes to send a quick prayer up to the gods that they’ll be safe. One second, he’s standing with Lou Ellen and Cecil and they’re talking about how Damien really had to take the last training practice a little less seriously, and the next, they’ve somehow volunteered to sneak into the Roman camp. Probably because Will’s still traumatized from the whole giving birth debacle. It’s a suicide mission, but Will stands up a little bit straighter, remembering Michael and Lee. Cecil has the bright idea to dress in all black.

They’re crouching in the grass, Lou Ellen using the Mist to hide any traces of them, when Will notices a figure dressed in a — is that a _Hawaiian t-shirt?_ ** “Nico?”

Nico, in return, decides to try to decapitate him.

“Put that down!” Will doesn’t want to die via a short, scrawny fourteen year old. “What are you doing here?

“Me? What are you doing? Getting yourselves killed?” Nico di Angelo hasn’t been to camp in months. Will remembers trying to get to know him, though he never got close enough.

Seriously, Will has a little bit more of a right to ask what Nico is doing. “Hey, we’re scouting the enemy. We took precautions.”

‘You dressed in black with the sun coming up. You painted your face but didn’t cover that mop of blond hair. You might as well be waving a yellow flag.”

Will resists the urge to curse at him. “Lou Ellen wrapped some Mist around us, too.” Will and Lou Ellen and Cecil don’t really want to die today.

Lou Ellen’s looking like a fairy, with her halo of hair and light spattering of freckles dusted on her nose and cheeks. Strike that — she looks like a _baller_ fairy, with the streaks of black under her eyes. While wearing the all-black had been Cecil’s idea, the football stripes had been hers. Cecil and Lou Ellen were the funny ones of the bunch. All of them knew the Mist was enough.

“Hi.” Will’s already about to slap his hand across Lou Ellen’s mouth. “You’re Nico, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. And this is Cecil from Hermes cabin.”

“Did Coach Hedge make it to camp?” Nico’s coming to kneel next to them. Nico di Angelo, who had brushed him off years back when Will had tried to talk to him. Whatever. Will had been ten and a stuttering mess, trying to talk to the boy who had so _much_ power. At least Percy was funny. Nico had just been intimidating.

Lou responds for him, before Will elbows her. “Did he ever.”

“Yeah.” Will rolled his eyes at Lou Ellen. “Hedge is fine. He made it just in time for the baby’s birth.”

“The baby!” Will wishes he could document this. Not only because it’s _Nico di Angelo_ who’s smiling, but because every grin in the midst of battle is a smile worth saving. “Mellie and the kid are all right?”

“Fine. A very cute little satyr boy. But I delivered it. Have you ever delivered a baby?” Will shudders, thinking of the memory.

“Um, no.”

Cecil sniggers in the grass next to Will.

“I had to get some fresh air. That’s why I volunteered for this mission. Gods of Olympus, my hands are still shaking. See?” Will grabs Nico’s hand, which he regrets the second Nico snatches his hand away. But there’s something _off_ about it. As if Nico’s hand is about to fade away. The weirdest part is, it feels _familiar._

“Whatever.” The grimace is back on Nico’s face. “We don’t have time for chitchat. The Romans are attacking at dawn and I’ve got to—”

“We know,” They’re not idiots, after all, except maybe Lou Ellen sometimes. “But, if you’re planning to shadow-travel to that command tent, forget it.”

Nico’s glaring at him. “Excuse me?”

Will resists the urge to pull out one of Lou Ellen’s typical snaps. “Coach Hedge told me all about your shadow-travel. You can’t try that again.” He senses Cecil trying to hold back his laughter, considering that he had been nearby when Mellie had been giving birth. Actually, he hadn’t. Hedge had just been that loud.

“I just did try it again, Solace. I’m fine.” Nico is many things, but he is not _fine._

“No, you’re not. I’m a healer. I could feel the darkness in your hand as soon as I touched it.” It was _familiar._ “Even if you made it to that tent, you’d be in no shape to fight. But you wouldn’t make it. One more slip, and you won’t come back. You are not shadow-travelling. Doctor’s orders.”

“The camp is about to be destroyed —”

“And we’ll stop the Romans. But we’ll do it our way. Lou Ellen will control the Mist. We’ll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. But no shadow-travel.” Will thinks he sees the moment where Nico realizes that they aren’t complete idiots.

“But—”

“No.”

“Whatever. But we have to hurry. And you’ll follow my lead.”

“Fine. Just don’t ask me to deliver any more satyr babies and we’ll get along great.”[[1](%E2%80%9C#note1%E2%80%9D)]

\---

Will comes into the infirmary, and he can barely even pick up the pen to sign in. It clatters through his fingers instead, but honestly, no one even notices with all the chaos happening inside. It’s far too full for his liking, and he’s supposed to manage it all. It was why Kayla had forced him to take a break today. The night shift is supposed to be easier; there’s not as much chaos, but to Will, it’s worse, because that means he has to deal with the nightmares.

“Will?” Will’s gaze shoots up sharply to meet Austin’s. Even though they look as different as night and day, it’s so obvious that they’re brothers. “Sit down.”

Will shakes his head. “No, it’s okay, it’ll go away after a bit.” It always does; for everybody, the pain doesn’t last as long as their soulmates have it for. Especially because Will’s never been in close proximity to his soulmate.

Seconds tick by. Will’s arms are defiantly crossed across his chest, and Austin just keeps looking at him. Will _still_ can’t feel his hands. “Will.”

“Okay, _fine,”_ Will concedes. “I’ll just— is that Nico?” Austin follows his gaze to where a black-clad grumpy teen is sitting on a bed.

Austin shrugs. “Yeah, he came in a couple minutes ago. I thought he was looking for you, what with your whole lost cases shit.” Will opens his mouth to speak. “Okay, _thing._ Anyways, I just told him to sit over there. Go do whatever the hell you want, but if your hands are still numb in ten minutes, then I’m gonna look at you.”

Will goes. Nico’s sitting with perhaps the most uncomfortable look on his face that Will has ever seen. “Come here often?”

Nico glances up with a scowl on his face. “Yes, definitely, _all the time_ —”

“Okay, okay, Death Boy.” Will would have had held up his hands here. “I get it. You don’t like being around people.” Will’s hands are tingling.

“Maybe I just don’t like being around you,” Nico mutters under his breath.

Will’s eyes widen comically. “Oh man! And here I thought, you were sitting alone, waiting for me to save you from the scary man that is Austin Lake.” Will’s ninety-nine percent sure that Nico’s older than Austin. Either way, that whole time-traveling thing that he never really understood makes Nico older than all of them combined, probably.

Nico scowls. “No.”

Well, Nico knew how to suck all the fun out of the room. The war was _over._ They were _alive._ Where was his celebration? “Guess I’ll just go then, leave you alone here, make sure that Austin keeps you here until you actually tell us _why_ you came.”

Nico groans. “Okay, fine.” As he slouches, Will catches a glimpse of his arm.

“Um. What the hell is _that.”_ Will can see the moment that Nico follows Will’s gaze and realizes what he’s looking at. He makes a frantic dash to cover up his arm — like the damage hasn’t already been done — and instead, his fingers go straight through. “Wow, Nico, you’ve definitely convinced me that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. Especially the whole hands-going-through-your-arm thing. Yup, you can leave now.”

Will’s hands are pins and needles. He has a funny feeling in his stomach.

“Shut up, Solace.”

Will rolls his eyes, “Come here.” Nico doesn’t move. “Doctors orders, come on.”  Grudgingly, Nico moves closer. Will rolls up his sleeve to see a horrid wound. Any sort of other thought flies out of his head at the sight of it. “Why didn’t you come earlier? Do you _want_ to die a painful death?”

“Hedge healed it. He used sports medicine and nature magic.”

“So you were going to trust _Hedge,_ instead of going to get it checked? What happened?” Nico mumbles something. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand bullshit.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Lycaon. Got clawed.”

Will doesn’t know what to say to that besides, “You could have ducked.” His hands are back to normal now. “I’m going to look at it more carefully now. I’m warning you because it might hurt.”

“I got clawed by a werewolf. I’ve been stuck in a jar for weeks. Do you really think this is going to— Solace!” Will is too distracted by the pain rippling up his own arm to respond. This— his— Nico—

Nico shoves him. “I shouldn’t have let you look at it.”

Will shakes his head before responding. “Let me get the salve.” There’s a heat on his cheeks; thankfully, Nico doesn’t seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

As Will rummages in the cupboard for the salve, he notices Austin looking at him. “I’m fine!” Will calls over, doing jazz hands for extra effect. An amused grin slips onto his brother’s lips.

“You better not laugh at this, because I’m saving your life,” Will warns Nico as he sits back down next to him, dipping his finger into the green gunk. Slowly, he spreads it across the injury, at the same time, humming under his breath. Will’s never been good at music, not compared to his siblings, but this— this, he can do.

Nico’s looking at his arm with a horrified expression. “What are you doing?”

Will doesn’t respond, too busy humming and saving his arm and all that.

Eventually, he notices the expression on Nico’s face soften. He has a nice face, Nico, but his undereye shadows are too dark and his cheeks are little bit too hollow. He has the face of someone who’s been starved his whole life, whether for food or for friends or for family. Soulmate or not, Nico di Angelo needs company. Will vows to himself to give it to him.

Will finally sits back with a self-satisfied expression. “Well?”

Nico looks torn between telling the truth and murdering him. “ _Well,_ my arm might be healing faster now.”

“Healing faster my ass. It’s _healed.”_ Will slips off the bed. “Now, you’re going to take a nap. You already look like you’re going to melt into a puddle of death goop. If I see you awake before nine in the morning, I’m going to have to strap you to the bed.” Nico’s mouth drops open, like he’s about to retort, but then instead slides under the covers. “Yeah, that’s right.”

As Will’s heading for some bandages to patch up Gus’s arm, he passes Austin, who says, “Strapping him to the bed. How kinky.”

“Shut up. At least I don’t upload my songs to YouTube in the faint hope that my crush will like me back.”

Hours pass. Eventually Will is the only Apollo camper left in the infirmary; Argus is somewhere else for now. There are too many campers in here. Thankfully, all of them are sleeping by now, the moonlight shining through the window and illuminating their faces. None of them are calm.

Will decides to get up from the stool he’s been sitting on and take a walk around. Somehow, he ends up at Nico’s bed. Nico’s hands are flickering, but surprisingly, Will doesn’t feel anything. Maybe he was wrong.

Just then, Nico begins to toss and turn. Will doesn’t know what to do; he’s a medic, not a therapist. So for now, he walks away, instead checking on the other campers. Maybe Nico will have calmed down by the time he comes back.

Instead, however, Will walks back to see Nico sitting up, breathing heavily. “Hey,” Will starts.

Nico doesn’t respond. He keeps breathing faster and faster, shallow breaths puffing out of his mouth. Carefully, Will moves closer and sits on the bed, leaving a foot of space between them. He’s shaking.

“Breathe, Nico.” Will tries to make his voice as soft as possible. “Can you count to ten?”

Seconds pass. Then finally, a tight nod.

“One.” Will sees the flutter of Nico’s lashes as he looks up. “Two.” Nico takes a deep breath.

After a long pause, Will fills in. “Three.”

He seems to be irritated enough by Will doing anything, so with an angry flash of his eyes, Nico counts, “Four.” The motion of Nico’s shoulders is becoming steadier.  

“Five. Six.”

Will shortens the gap between them. “I’m here for you, alright? This is going to be over soon.”

In lieu of a response, Nico says, “Seven.”

“Eight.” Nico’s voice is scratchy, but Will resists the urge to smile.

“Nine,” they say together. “Ten.”

The next few minutes pass by in silence. Until: “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” Nico’s response is quick. In the light of the moon, Will can just barely make out the brown of his eyes.

“We all have nightmares, you know,” Will says, “I used to get them all the time. I’d wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, and I had to stifle my scream too, because I couldn’t let Austin or Kayla or anyone else hear. I’m a counselor, you know?” He offers Nico a wry smile. “I can try to understand.”

“You wouldn’t get it.” Lines form on Nico’s face. “Sure, you’ve been through battles. But you haven’t done what I have.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t have basic human empathy, though.”

There’s a light in Nico’s eyes. “Tartarus. That’s why I panicked.”

A weight presses itself on Will’s chest. “You went to Tartarus? Like, literal hell?”

“Yup.” Nico’s tone is sadistic. “And I was all alone. I met a _ton_ of monsters. There’s millions down there, you know. And I met them all. Had to drink liquid fire to breathe. Had the Protogenoi of poison and misery tell me I couldn’t be more miserable than I am right now. Had to get kidnapped and shoved in a jar.” Will’s silent. “So yeah, you can’t understand. Nice try, though.”

Will opens his mouth, then closes it. “You shouldn’t have had to go through all that alone.” _You don’t have to anymore._

“Well, I did.” It’s a blatant dismissal.

For the rest of the night, Will sits at his stool. He can’t stop staring at Nico di Angelo.

Faintly, he presses his fingers to his wrist and listens to his heart: _bum bum, bum bum._ Will thinks it might be in sync with Nico’s.

 

\---

 

1 Whole scene taken from  _The Blood of Olympus._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i haven't updated i forgot how much i hated writing romance but WE'RE DONE!!!!!!!!!! and u guys get a 11K chapter

The next few days go like this: Will stays in the infirmary but _somehow_ ends up wandering over to Nico. He tries to talk. Nico pushes him away.

Slowly, _slowly,_ though, Will digs his way in.

“Have you been strawberry picking before?” He tries the first day. Will doesn’t know whether or not to bring up last night, but then decides to leave that to Nico’s actual friends. After all, he wouldn’t want someone pushing into his personal business.

Of course, Nico being Nico, gives Will nothing to work with besides, “Because I’ve spent so much time at Camp Half Blood with all my friends, haven’t I?”

“Well, you should go sometime!” Will has a default mode: sunny smile, cheerful tone, friendly appearance. Kayla says he acts like their father, not that they’ve ever met him enough to know for sure. “Lou Ellen, Cecil, and I spent the whole day out there once, just eating strawberries, until the satyrs caught us. We were on dish duty for three weeks.”

For some reason, Nico scowls. Apparently sunshine doesn’t work so well for Death Boy.

Will keeps the conversation brief for the rest of the day. Nico sleeps, instead. He needs the rest.

The next day, Will stays in his cabin until his arms are solid. Then, he heads over to the infirmary, hands still shaking, where he finds that Kayla is sitting next to Nico. He sees her mouth moving and Nico sulking - this can’t be good.

“-So since it looks like you’re perfectly healthy, you have to help out, _Nico.”_ She stresses his name like it’s an insult. “I mean, you can’t just sit around all day like a slug waiting for Will to show up-”’

“Kayla!” Will rushes over, smile stretched on his face. “Nico! Nice to see you guys hanging out!”

He thinks that for that moment the two of them look like siblings, at least with their identical frowns. But at least Kayla is more talkative. “Will, he was just _sitting around_ as if we don’t need help around here. If you can kill a bunch of monsters, you can bandage someone’s shoulder.”

Will can’t help but shrug, a smile dancing on his lips. “She’s got a point.” Before Nico can do anything besides scowl, Will grabs his arm. “Woah boy, you don’t have to drag up your undead army because you don’t want to put clean people’s cuts.”

If possible, Nico glowers even more. “I was _not_ going to summon my skeletons. I know how to clean a cut!”

“Okay, then why don’t you show me?” Will’s laughing, so of course, Nico’s not supposed to take it seriously. But somehow, he instead takes it as a challenge, standing up and veering toward the nearest demigod. It happens to be Harley, which is perhaps not the best choice for Nico to start with.

The look in Kayla’s eyes says that she wants it play to out, most likely because she wants to see the disaster at the end. Unfortunately for her, Will can’t stop himself from heading over. “Hey, hey, hey.” Nico glances up at him. “You don’t actually know how to do this kind of stuff. Kayla was just teasing.” Will smiles, again.

The same goes for Nico and frowning. “But I _do-”_

“Do you have magical healing powers?” Nico opens his mouth. “Whatever you’re going to say is super interesting, I’m sure-” Will’s serious, even if Nico doesn’t seem to think so. “-but I think Harley needs to get his cut fixed.”

“Yeah!” Harley nods energetically. “I was trying to build a giant robot to take down the Romans, but then it accidentally turned on me instead. I need to go back to try to fix it.”

“What kind of robot?” Will asks.

Nico’s eyes are narrowed. “You’re not going to ask about-”

“What kind of robot?”

“I didn’t get too far.” Harley’s gaze turns downwards, suddenly sheepish. “I was planning on using the magic hammer to make it bigger, but before I could, it cut me and ran away.”

Will’s trying his hardest not to snort, and instead, lets his smile spread across his face. For once, it isn’t fake. “Harley, you have to learn to keep your doors locked! Wait, no, don’t do that. Talk to your counselor.” A pause. “Oh. I would offer to help, but somehow, I don’t think that I would be all that great at building robots. I could barely ever make Lego rocket ships. Maybe Nyssa can help?” He’s rambling, but Harley’s expression has become downcast, and Will’s proven that he’s terrible at dealing with counselor deaths.

But what he _does_ know is healing. To Nico, he says, “Pass me that paste over there?” Nico obliges, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on Will, like he’s some sort of puzzle that needs to be solved.

“Watch, Death Boy. _This_ is how you heal someone.” With that claim, Will turns to Harley. Solemnly, he says, “This is going to tickle, Harley. You sure you can handle it?”

Harley sticks out his tongue, and Will laughs. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”

Will spreads the paste on Harley’s arm. Harley attempts to valiantly stem his giggles, but a few slip out. Will hums a song under his breath, his dad’s song, the one that stitches everything together again.

After Will’s done, he straightens and turns to Nico and Kayla and waves his sticky green hands. “See, you guys, _that’s_ how you heal a cut.” Harley’s already hopped off the bed. “Hey, Harley!” Will has to call as Harley already begins to dart back to his cabin. “Don’t blow anything up!” It’s too late, though; Harley’s gone.

Kayla shrugs from next to Will. “Whatever, we’ll just make Austin deal with him next time.”

Will gives her a look. “Speaking of dealing with things…”

“Okay, okay, I’m _leaving._ No need to tell me twice.” Kayla makes sure to knock over the bandages and paste as she leaves to go check on Sloane. And then Will’s left with Nico, a laugh bubbling up over the edge of his throat. And apparently Nico’s offended, because he shoots Will a glare that’s just a little bit terrifying.

“It’s okay, man,” Will holds his hands up in the air, “It’s just - you look like you’d rather be building robots with Harley than here. You don’t have to feel so out of place, you know. We’re all friends here.”

Nico scoffs. He’s lucky it’s Will that’s here. Kayla would have smacked him. “That’s not true.”

“Let me revise my statement. We would all _like_ to be friends here, if a certain emo goth would get his butt moving and hand me some more paste.” Will crosses his arm, unimpressed.

Nico gives him a heavy look before slowly handing the pot over to Will. “Here you go.”

There’s something vulnerable in Nico’s expression, so Will smooths it over with a bright smile of his own. “That’s more like it.”

After, it’s like a sort of barrier cracks. Or, at least, they get into a pattern: Will walks around, talks to everybody who’s unlucky enough to have found themselves in the infirmary, and introduces Nico. Nico is consistently awkward throughout, but Will sees something in him lighten up.

At the end of the day, it’s just the two of them in the infirmary. Nico is gingerly sitting across from Will, who is sitting on a spinny chair and tapping his fingers on the sides. “Nico, you don’t have to stay here with me,” Will starts, “I’m just waiting for Austin to come here. Then I’m going to go back to my cabin, get some nice long rest.”

Will’s face flushes a bit. Information overload, much?

Nico’s quiet. And then: “No, it’s okay. Hazel’ll be glad. She really wanted me to come today.”

“Oh.” Something in Will deflates. He fixes it the same way he fixes everything: with a sunny smile, a dimpled grin.

It’s quiet. Will can hear the sound of footsteps and chatter from outside. He wonders where Austin is. It’s started to become lonely in the Apollo cabin, with only Will and Kayla and Austin. Michael and Lee are dead, after all.

“Today was better than I expected, though.” Will’s head jerks up. Nico continues, “You weren't as annoying as I thought you’d be.” Something about the wryness in Nico’s voice and the small smile at the corner of his lips tells Will not to be offended.

He can take it.

Deep down, Will’s heart twinges.

\---

Will tells Cecil first. They’re in Ancient Greek class, so Annabeth is writing something on the board in front of the room. Will knows that he should listen; Annabeth won’t hesitate to call him out if she sees him not paying attention.

 _“Cecil,”_ Will hisses. For extra emphasis, he nudges him too. Will isn’t exactly subtle.

A few minutes tick by. Then, when Annabeth’s back is turned again, Cecil’s gaze flicks towards his. “What?” It’s a proper whisper; a son of Hermes that couldn’t be sneaky would be a disappointment, after all. Not that Cecil’s even close to being anything but a carbon copy of his siblings.

Except he has more tact, Will likes to think. “So you know what Lou Ellen told you about my soulmate-”

“How did you know Lou Ellen told me?” Cecil immediately retorts back. A second later, he softens. “Yeah, she told me your hands had been feeling odd? Not that I’m blind or an idiot, you know, after you helped Mellie give birth, your hands were shaking super hard. But I thought that was just because you had just stuck your hand-”

“No, that’s _not_ what I meant.” Will’s voice is so loud and horrified that Annabeth stops speaking.

“Will, Cecil, do you two want to pause that conversation?” she asks. Will sinks down in his chair, tomato red.

After she’s done lecturing them about some sort of Ancient Greek play, Will gestures to Cecil. He feels a little guilty, actually, because he knows that Lou Ellen is at track right now with the rest of her siblings and the Aphrodite cabin, but Cecil won’t be so _loud_ about it.

“Cecil,” Will begins again, once they’re situated in a tree that doesn’t belong to a dryad . “About my soulmate.” Cecil nods. “Well, he’s a guy.”

“Really?” Cecil tilts his head. “Lou Ellen told me that it could be a girl _or_ guy-”

“Wait, man, you knew? You said you didn’t.”

“Well, sor- _ry_ if I thought it was completely obvious. My sister’s gay, you know I love it because whenever her girlfriend comes over, Mom makes som tam.” Cecil pauses, “As long as you don’t make out in front of me, because when my sister does it, it’s kind of annoying. Wait, have you ever even made out with _anyone?”_

Will opens his mouth. _“Wait!”_ Cecil shoves his hand over Will’s mouth. “The more important question is _who_ are you making out with?”

“See, I don’t think Nico di Angelo’s going to let me make out with him anytime soon.” Cecil’s mouth forms a perfect o-shape. Will hastily adds, “Not that I want to. Okay, maybe a little bit. But I just mean. I think he’s my soulmate.”

Cecil nods. Will was about to go on a rambling explanation of everything he’s noticed, from the wounded arm to the shaking hands to the complete absence of feeling that occasionally overtook his body. A scientific analysis, nothing to do with the way Nico holds himself or the glimmer in his brown eyes. But this is Cecil - he doesn’t care about the gooey stuff. That’s for Lou Ellen.

“So,” Cecil draws the word out. “Whatcha gonna do about it?”

“I’m gonna…” Will pauses. “Do nothing? _I don’t know?”_ Because as much as Will loves the idea of a happily ever after, he’s fifteen, and more importantly, a demigod. Demigods don’t get happily ever afters - they get stolen moments in between patches of battle. Though, from what he’s seen lately…

“I don’t think Nico’s ready for anything like that,” Will finally says. It’s true. From what he’s seen, more than anything, Nico di Angelo needs a friend.

“It doesn’t _have_ to be like that.” A mischievous grin slides onto Cecil’s face.

Will snorts. “As appealing as that sounds, I think I’ll just be his friend for now, thanks.”

“Whatever you want, dude,” Cecil shrugs, “I’m just telling you all your options. Someone’s got to counteract Lou Ellen’s bullshit.”

“I’ll tell her you said that,” Will warns, but there’s a grin on his face.

“Do it, you won’t.”

Will wouldn’t. “If she was here I _would.”_

“Whatever, dude. Anyways, do you want to come over to my house for a few weeks during the fall? I really want to eat noodle soup and Mom makes it best whenever other people are over. And Lou Ellen doesn’t even _like_ Thai food, can you believe it-”

Will’s staring off into the distance. He thinks he can see Nico and his sister Hazel. “Is that Nico?”

“You’re the one with twenty-twenty vision. Why are you asking me if I can see some hazy figures in the distance?” Cecil sounds irritated that Will’s ignored his request for Thai food, even though he _knows_ that Will always ends up coming over.

“It’s Nico,” Will determines.

Cecil lets out a long, drawn out sigh. “Looks like I’m going to have to channel Lou Ellen right now. You better make this up to me later. We can like do something manly, like sword-fighting.” He pauses, a sneaky glint in his eyes. “Actually, you can do that with Nico.”

Will’s jaw drops, and he shoves Cecil, but apparently it’s a little bit too hard, because Cecil goes tumbling off the tree and onto the ground. “Mother _fucker!”_ Cecil shouts as he falls and lands on the ground with an _oof._ Will makes to scramble down the tree, but his shock has gotten him so topsy-turvy that one thing leads to another, and his legs slip off the branch.

Will lands right next to a wheezing Cecil. “Karma,” Cecil manages to make out. Will is too winded to respond, but there’s a grin sliding onto his face even as he glares at Cecil.

“Solace?”

Will jerks up only to meet gazes with a certain Nico di Angelo. His sister is standing next to him, amused. “Hey, Death Boy. Hey, Hazel.”

Will’s face is most definitely bright red. He most definitely has grass tangled in his hair. There’s most definitely dirt on his butt. All in all, not a great look, but as long as he doesn’t get up, Will should manage to survive. After all, Cecil looks worse.

Nico sputters. “Death Boy?” He then seems to realize that he’s not the one who should be humiliated right now. “Why are you lying on the ground?”

“The ground’s nice. Isn’t it, Cecil?”

Cecil says, “I’m channeling my inner Lou Ellen.” He winks at Will. _Winks._

“Hey, Nico, any chance you can open up a hole to the Underworld right now? I’m kind of feeling like there’s someone I want to drop down there.” Nico looks perplexed, but Hazel’s laughing. “It’s a _joke._ Look, Hazel’s laughing.”

“Hey,” Hazel gently says, “No need to get me involved in this.” She’s smiling, though, so it’s alright. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Me?” Will questions, “I’m Will Solace.”

“No, I know your name, Nico’s mentioned you-” Hazel cuts off at a glare from Nico. “I mean, um, you.” She waves generally at Cecil’s direction. It’s a little bit hard when Cecil is still refusing to get up.

“Cecil, get up,” Will laughs.

After much groaning and grumbling, Cecil finally sits up. “Cecil Markowitz, at your service.” He salutes. Hazel looks like she’s going to laugh. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to introduce yourself. Everyone and their mom and dad’s heard of you, because, you know, our parents are gods.”

Hazel says something in response, but Will’s looking at Nico. “No, but really, I fell out of the tree,” he says, gesturing to the tree in question. “I’m super injured and dying, so you need to put your healing skills to test now.” Nico looks at him, unimpressed. “What?” Will questions. “Did those three days in the infirmary really not teach you anything?”

“You act like I didn’t know how to put on a bandage before,” Nico says, still standing in front of him with his arms crossed.

“Excuse _me,_ who’s the one who had to fix the mess that was your arm?” Will gestures out toward the limb in question. “Because it certainly wasn’t healed properly when I got to it.”

Nico huffs. “Sorry if I was off trying to get the _Athena Parthenos_ to camp.”

“That’s no reason to not take care of yourself on the way there.” Will pats the grass beside him. “Come on, sit down. The ground’s not going to hurt you.”

Nico gives him a hesitant look, glances toward Hazel, but eventually sits down. Something akin to a feeling of victory rises in Will’s chest. “Why were you in the tree?”

“What?” Will starts, confused. He had been basking in his glory - well, that was one way to say what he was feeling.

“The tree that you fell out of. Why were you even in it?”

“Um,” Will says with an awkward laugh. “That’s a funny story. Cecil?” Cecil’s too busy in his conversation with Hazel. “Um, well. Bro stuff?”

“Bro stuff,” Nico repeats disbelievingly.

“Yeah. Don’t you and Jason do that?” Will’s nodding emphatically. He’s fucked up, big time. Nico is never going to talk to him again.

Nico narrows his eyes. In the sunlight, they don’t look as black - more like dark brown, with flecks of light dancing inside. “We _talk_. In normal places, like the dining pavilion, or our cabins.”

“Why would you talk when you could climb trees, though?” Will points to his arm. “You can build your muscles. The grind never stops.”

Somehow, Will just can’t stop talking. But he’s saved by the crunch of feet on leaves. “Will! Cecil!” Lou Ellen bounds over to where they’re sitting. Piper and Jason are a few steps behind her, though they aren’t quite as energetic as she is. “Nico! Hazel!’

“Lou Ellen!” Cecil responds energetically.

“What’s up? Why are you guys sitting on the ground? Did you fall out of the tree?”

Nico looks at Will. “Why is that her first guess?”

“She’s pushed us out of many, many trees before,” Will responds solemnly.

Nico opens his mouth to respond, but then Jason is putting his hand on his shoulder and crouching down next to them. Piper’s wandered over to Hazel. Lou Ellen is somewhere in the middle. “What’s up?” he asks Nico, then nods at Will.

“Nothing,” Nico responds. “Just saw Solace lying down on the ground and decided to ask what was going through his head. Nothing was, apparently.”

“I told you, we were doing bro stuff-” Will cuts himself off. Nico is smiling, and something in Will’s chest feels like it’s going to burst.

This isn’t supposed to happen so _fast._ But Will just can’t help it.

“Bro stuff?” Jason looks like he’s on the verge of laughter. “Sorry we cut into your bro time then.”

“Thanks man,” Will nods solemnly. “Cecil and I were really upset when Nico and Hazel came over. I don’t know how we could have lived without talking about how Cecil’s mom only makes good food when his sister’s girlfriend comes over.”

“What kind of food?” Nico asks.

“Thai. Cecil’s mom makes the best spring rolls.” Will’s stomach practically rumbles at the thought.

“I’ve never had spring rolls,” Nico says.

“What? We’re definitely going to have to eat them. I can try to ask the harpies if they can make it, I think they like me, after I helped them clean the dishes one time. It was actually Cecil’s punishment, but he really wanted to go on a date with Billie, so I offered to do it instead. Anyways-” Will notices the expression both Nico and Jason are giving him. “-if you really want spring rolls, I can get them.”

“Cool,” Nico says. They lapse into quiet; it’s deafening and comforting at the same time.

“Well,” Jason says, “I’m going to go ask Piper something.” Will sinks slowly back onto the grass. He wants it to swallow him up.

“Solace?” Will turns to meet Nico’s eyes. “I’d like that.”

“Like what?” Will can’t bring himself to hope.

“The - the spring rolls.”

Will grins. “It’s gonna be awesome.”

\---

In the end, the spring rolls experience isn’t really all that much to talk about. Will and NIco talk, but somehow Lou Ellen and Cecil end up crashing, and before he knows it, there’s seven people trying to eat spring rolls designed for two. But what Will can say instead, is this:

Nico’s eyes crinkle at the corners when he smiles. He doesn’t do it as often as Will would like, but when he does - _oh_ , it’s something.

Nico’s fingers are abnormally long. But it’s in a _good_ way, not a Frankenstein way - like, he looks like he could be a piano player or violin player straight out of a black-and-white movie. Which, in a way, Will supposes he is.

Will thinks he’s screwed himself over. At least Nico’s his soulmate - at least it’s not someone who would lead him on and break his heart once they find the person they’re meant to be with.

But then there’s this: what if Will isn’t Nico’s soulmate? What if Will’s one of those _special cases_ with a bleeding heart that sprays all over the place and leaves him dead? (Will’s not very good at metaphors; he can harp about the way sunlight spreads on someone’s skin for eternity, but there’s something he likes about the concrete, the physical. Aortas and livers.)

He supposes that this is just his way out, his way to avoid the nudges Lou Ellen gives him constantly and the smirks that Cecil sends his way.

One night, when the summer is coming to a close, something surprising happens. Nico, who sits with Percy and Annabeth (and Piper and Jason when they aren’t searching for Leo), isn’t in his usual spot. Not that Will’s been watching - he just happened to glance over in that direction because Lou Ellen was talking about some activity that she had done with the Aphrodite cabin.

“Where’s Nico?” Will finds himself wondering out loud.

But unfortunately for Will, he’s also near Kayla and Austin. “Nico? Why do you care?” There’s a sly look on Kayla’s face, and Will has to resist the urge to yank the green straight out of her hair.

“We’re friends,” Will stresses the word, “And I want to make sure that he’s not sick or anything. Because that’s what _friends_ do.”

“I think you’ll be absolutely _ecstatic_ to learn that he’s right behind you, then.” Will hates Austin’s dry humor. He slowly turns around, red blooming across his cheeks, to make eye contact with Nico, who’s clutching a bag of marshmallows. It’s a funny sight, to say the least; Will couldn’t have expected this to happen a month ago.

Will waves awkwardly.

Nico shoves himself down in the space at the end of the bench next to Will.

“So, uh,” Will turns to face him. “How much of that did you hear? Do I have to go dig myself a grave?”

Nico responds, “So, we’re _friends,_ huh,” with a smile that Will can’t stop staring at.

“Hey, of course we are!” Will bumps Nico in the shoulder. “We’ve been friends since that day you decided to drag yourself to the infirmary and get your life threatening wounds checked out.”

Will can hear snickers in the background, but he chooses to ignore Kayla, Cecil, Lou Ellen, Austin, Sophia, Julia, Alice, and whoever else may be there. Thankfully, so does Nico. “Thank the gods. I don’t know how I’d live without your annoyance every day.”

“Hey,” Will retorts, “You’re the one who chose to come over here today. Are these marshmallows all for me?” He grins, as radiant as he can possibly make it. Maybe he can woo Nico with his smile and handsomeness if not his intelligence or common sense.

“Nope,” Nico pops the p as he keeps the bag out of Will’s grasp. “I came over here to share. That, and Piper and Annabeth kicked me out.” He sends a scowl in their direction. By this time, Will knows Nico well enough to not take that as more than a slight pang to the chest, an improvement from feeling like he was being trampled on by a stampede of centaurs.

“Yeah, they _kicked you out,”_ Will responds sarcastically.

“No, really. They probably wanted some couple time.” It may just be Will’s imagination, but even though Nico looks downcast, he doesn’t really sound all that glum about it. And Nico _always_ looks sick, so really, nobody could take the way he looks as an indication of his mood.

Will snorts. “Nico di Angelo, I can’t imagine why anybody _wouldn’t_ want to spend their time at a campfire sing-along around Mr. Glum.” A pause. “Thankfully, you decided to come to the right person. The Apollo cabin is here in full force-” He gestures to Kayla and Austin, all that’s left, “-and you _know_ that we’re the ones that lead the sing-along.” More specifically, Austin. Will tries, but his singing is slightly above average at best. He thinks that Drew Tanaka probably sings better than he does.

Nico’s eyes widen. Before he can move to get up, Will grabs his wrist. “Come on! It’ll be fun.”

Will then realizes that he’s _holding Nico di Angelo’s wrist_ . A second ticks by, and Will still hasn’t let go. His fingers are burning. If he moved it up a little bit, they would be _holding hands._ He wonders if Nico can feel it in his fingers, too, or the burn of heat rushing across his face. But Nico’s looking at Will, lips slightly parted.

“Sorry,” Will mutters, finally letting go of Nico’s hand. “Do I have something on my face?” He starts to feel around above his mouth, if just for something to do, before Nico speaks up.

“No,” Nico says, “No- you don’t have anything. I just-”

“Pass the _fucking marshmallows_ Nico!” Will’s head whips around. Well, he can always count on Lou Ellen to do something to screw everything up. Especially in a second, when she notices their positions, and a mischievous glint appears in her eye. It’s remarkably like Cecil’s; Will had suspected for years that those two were soulmates, until one day, Cecil accidentally impaled himself with a sword and Lou Ellen carried on canoeing.

Speaking of soulmates - “Oh. Nevermind. We can steal them from Clovis.”

“He’s here?” Will questions, looking around. He’s a little shocked that the Hypnos cabin actually managed to get themselves out of bed for the campfire today; then again, the day’s been full of surprises so far. The summer’s almost over, though. Anything seems possible when a future is dawning in front of you, a future you didn’t think you would live to see a month ago.

“Yeah,” Lou Ellen replies, “But you shouldn’t care. Go back to flirting.”

Will’s eyes widen, and he hastily turns to Nico. “She’s just joking. Lou Ellen’s like that. She’s really - what’s the word? Blunt? She really doesn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”

Nico’s sitting there with his hands clasped together. “Yeah, okay.”

Whatever mood that had been kindling was dampened. Instead, the two of them sat in silence, watching the fire, Nico sitting calmly and Will twisting his hands together. Eventually it was too much. “So, what’s your favorite color?” he bursts.

“Solace, it’s literally been two minutes.” Even if he is making fun of Will, it's nice to see Nico smiling again. It smooths him out, gets rid of some of the harsh lines on his face. Will wishes that he could just put some paste on them and hum them all away.

Unfortunately, not all scars are physical.

"Yeah, but I really don't know that much about you." _And you’re my soulmate._ "I know that Lou Ellen loves red because she's a huge Harry Potter geek and she thinks she's a Gryffindor. I haven't read it so I can't really tell you, but. And I know Cecil loves blue because he doesn't like to admit it, it soothes him. And -"

"Okay, I get it, you really like colors," Nico interrupts him. "I guess mine is black." Will's only response is a dramatic groan. "What?" Will just looks at him. He hopes Nico notices how the fire accents Will’s eyes (or that's what Lou Ellen had said once, at the last one). "Black is a color!"

"Think outside the box! There are literally infinite amounts of colors out there, but you stick with the most basic one out of all of them. _Black_. You're more like a... green."

"Black is a color," Nico continues to insist.

"Black is literally the absence of color! How can you argue that your favorite color is nothing?"

"Well, how is yellow any better?"

"Yellow?" Will furrows his brows, confused. "Who likes yellow?" Then it hits him. " _Oh_ , just because I'm _Apollo's_ kid and all that. You may not have noticed, but the sun actually doesn't have a color, because you can't actually look at it or you'd get blinded. Maybe that's why your favorite color is black. You've blinded yourself looking at the sun."

"No, I know that!" Nico sputters in a way that indicates that he doesn't know that.

"Sure, Jan." Will regrets spending so much time with Lou Ellen and Cecil. It’s worth it, if just to see Nico looking so cute confused. "It's a meme. It would take too much effort to explain it to your blind self."

Nico pushes further, "I do _not_ look at the sun!"

“Whatever you say, Nico. Pass me the marshmallows?”

After the marshmallows are safely in Will’s hands, Will turns to Nico again. “So, have you ever made a s’more before?”

“No,” Nico deadpans. “I spent all my time at Camp Half-Blood haunting the dryads in the forests. At night, I would ignore everyone and sulk in the corner.”

“A simple yes would have worked.” Will settles the bag of marshmallows down on the ground next to him. Austin’s on his left, but thankfully, he seems to be minding his own business, though that may have been because of Lou Ellen. Whatever. “Isn’t this great?”

Nico furrows his brows. “What?”

“You know,” Will gestures, “ _This.”_ The crackling of the fire, the hundred some campers all gathered together, the feeling of having Nico close next to him. If Will just moved his hand a few inches, he could probably put it on Nico’s. The realization sends shivers down his spine.

Surprisingly, Nico just nods. “I guess. It’s different than before.” Will follows his gaze to Nico’s friends; Jason and Annabeth are quietly chatting about something, while Piper and Percy are not so subtly sending glances in their direction. Will thinks about how Nico didn’t have any friends before, about how he spent his time flickering all over the world, China to California to Colombia. He can’t imagine not being grounded, not having roots.

“Yeah, probably because you’re sitting with me!” Will takes the opportunity of bumping shoulders with Nico to scoot closer. He can feel the electricity, he _swears._

“You’re definitely more energetic than the rest of them.” Will isn’t so sure that Nico’s comment is true - has he ever _seen_ Percy Jackson? - but he’s willing to take it. A compliment is a compliment, after all, no matter how sullenly it’s been given.

Will nods. “Yeah, I think it’s an Apollo trait. Us in Cabin Seven, we’re party monsters.”

Nico just looks at Will. After all, next to him, Austin is practically falling asleep on Kayla’s shoulder. He had taken the night shift the night before; Will doesn’t know why he’s here and not at the cabin sleeping. Kayla, on the other hand, is closer to plain monster, especially right now, when she’s trying to snatch the marshmallows from Julia Feingold. “Yeah, and I’m Captain America.”

Will bursts out laughing, and something on Nico’s face shifts. It’s - softer, almost? Will can’t bring himself to hope. But - “Strong, blonde, and handsome. You’ve at least got one of the three.” It slips out of his mouth before Will can stop himself.

But Nico doesn’t slide away from him or scoff in disgust or _anything_ like that. Instead, what he says, is, “Cut the hair, Solace, and maybe you could pass for him.” Will’s about to hug him or something stupid like that until Nico continues, “Before the serum, of course.”

“Hey!” Will takes the marshmallow he was planning on eating and instead chucks it at Nico. He could be an _amazing_ Captain America. Sure, he may not be as buff as Butch or Sherman, but Will has _muscles._ He’s blonde. It takes _strength_ to stand up for ten hours a day.

The marshmallow lands in Nico’s lap. There’s silence for a moment before Will can bring himself to meet Nico’s eyes. He immediately regrets it- there’s an evil glint in them that makes Will immediately cover his face with his arms. “Don’t kill me! I called you _Captain America!”_ There’s silence, and a couple seconds tick past.

“Nico?” Will questions, voice muffled through his arms. He doesn’t doubt that Nico has a marshmallow at the ready. But there’s still no response. “Seriously, Nico?” Nothing.

Slowly, _slowly,_ Will removes his hands from in front of his face. It’s then that a huge glob of marshmallows comes sailing at it. Nico’s almost doubled over from his cackles.

Jokes on him, though, because even as it slides down his face, warm and gooey, it still smells like _heaven._ So Will scoops a bit of hot marshmallow off his cheek with his finger and shoves it in his mouth. “Fanks for fuh marfhmallow.” He smiles, making sure that the marshmallow is spread between his teeth. Will must look _so_ hot right now.

Nico scowls and shoves him. It seems to be a little bit harder than he had intended; Will doesn’t think that Nico wanted to send Austin thudding into Kayla, who ends up tumbling onto the ground. (Looks like Nico is handsome _and_ strong, then.) “Austin, I’m going to _murder you!”_

Austin holds his hands up. “It was Will.”

Will holds his hands up. “It was Nico.”

Nico holds his hands up. “I was provoked.”

Fortunately for Nico, Kayla’s been distracted by Will’s face. “Will, do you know how to eat?”

Austin chimes in before Will can say anything. “Kayla. We’ve lived with him for five years.” A pause. “You _know_ he can’t eat properly.” Will’s torn between being mortified and laughing. In a split second, he decides on the latter.

“Well, look who has marshmallows, and look who doesn’t!” Will sticks out his tongue like a five year old. Cabin counselor privileges. Kayla and Austin groan when they see the marshmallow on his tongue.

“Finish your freaking food, dude!”

“You know what, Kayla? You have to clean the cabin tomorrow.”

“You can’t _do_ that,” Kayla whines, her hair flopping in front of her eyes. Will chooses to ignore her. Kayla would probably outwit him, and anyways, he knows that he’ll end up helping her clean it tomorrow. There’s only three of them, they tend to do things together. It’s not like before, when there were more.

Instead, he turns to Nico, who’s sitting there trying to smother his laughter. “Oh, hilarious,” Will remarks dryly.

“It’s just that-” Nico snorts, “-your _little sister_ owned you _._ Even _I_ don’t get bullied by Hazel. ”

Will blinks hard, pretending to be embarrassed. “Kayla’s a master roaster, okay?” He shakes his head, but can’t help his smile from spreading to his eyes. Will feels drunk, almost - he feels on top of the world, like he’s unstoppable.

Nico pauses and shakes his head the slightest bit. Looks at Will in a way that makes him feel like there are butterflies rioting in his stomach. "Sorry. I didn't realize you'd get that offended." It's not like his previous apologies, this one is sincere, though it's a bit more double-edged than Will's typically are. Will can deal with that though, if Nico keeps looking at him like that. "Here, I can help."

Will's brain short circuits.

"W-what?" He replies dumbly, frozen in place as Nico leans forward. Will doesn't understand what's going on - is Nico - will Nico - _is he going to -_

Will's whole cheek goes electric as Nico begins to scoop the marshmallow off of Will's cheek. "Gack," Nico mutters, an adorable sound to fit with the expression on his face. "I didn't realize it would get this gooey. Sorry." There's a beat of silence, until Will realizes, _oh_ , he should probably respond, but for once, no words are coming to his mouth.

The silence is enough to be awkward, until Will finally manages to gather his wits. "Uh, it's okay." His fingers twist together in his lap. Hopefully Nico doesn't take his flustered appearance to be what it truly was; hopefully he's as opaque as always. But tonight - _something_ seems different about tonight, if only with how bold Nico is being. Maybe the Hermes cabin snuck pot into the chocolate.  "I threw the first marshmallow, after all."

Nico's fingers pause on Will's cheek. "That is true," he acknowledges, "Maybe I should take back my apology then."

"Hey!" Will immediately jerks his head up. Unfortunately, this means Nico's fingers are no longer touching his face. "That apology was totally deserved. I don't know how I could live without it, Nico di Angelo. This is like, the first time you've apologized to me. I need to treasure it."

Nico retorts with something, and Will responds, and the rest of the night feels like Will’s in heaven. Even if Will turns out to not be Nico’s soulmate, he can deal with that. As long as it means that he can spend more nights like this. His family on one side, Nico on the other, the stars above - this is something that Will instinctively knows he will never forget. Nico’s smile is already tucked somewhere in his ribs and the touch of his fingers somewhere under Will’s heart.

So, of course, it all has to go wrong.

It starts when they’re all packing up for the night. Will’s about to offer to be a chivalrous gentleman and walk Nico back to his cabin, although he sees Nico’s gang eyeing him like they want to dig the details of night out of him (which Kayla, Austin, Lou Ellen, and Cecil are also doing, but Will’s going to determinedly ignore them for now). And he actually thinks that Nico might say yes to Will. That maybe something could happen then, that the small seed of whatever’s going on how can blossom into _more_.

But before Will can ask, Nico makes to get up but somehow manages to trip over a log and sprawl on the ground. It’s harder than he expected, and Nico ends up groaning and clutching his knee. At the same time, a white hot pain spreads across Will’s kneecap, and as much as he tries to keep it in, a hiss escapes his mouth. _Fuck._ That hurt.

“Will?”

Will turns to look at Nico, who’s staring at him with wide eyes. “Hi,” is all Will can say in response. He doesn’t know what to do. Nico di Angelo has never seemed like a person all to be comfortable with soulmates. Nico’s like a scared cat, retreating when someone tries to get closer. He’s spent most of his life alone, sullen in the dark, craving a friend. Will can be that friend. He can be more. But being someone else’s other half is a daunting process.

“You-” Nico swallows hard. “Your knee.”

“Your knee is the one that’s hurt,” Will responds gently, getting into medic mode. It’s the only way he knows how to deal with this. “Do you want me to look at it?”

It’s as if Nico has magically transformed into a satyr with magic speed as he scrambles up. “No, it’s okay.” Before Will can even blink, he’s over with Percy and Jason and Annabeth and Piper. And Will is left sitting on the bench clutching his knee.

He knew it.

There’s a buzz in his ears as he walks over to his friends and his siblings. Will _knew_ it would all go wrong. He should have just plastered on a grin like a band-aid and carried on. He should have hid his pain better. He should have-

“How was lover boy?” Lou Ellen is nudging Will, curiosity evident in every pore of her face.

 _Terrible,_ Will wants to say. _He’s never going to talk to me again._

What comes out instead is, “Wonderful.”

\---

Will manages to hide in the infirmary for all of two days before the events at the campfire manage to catch up to him. It’s not hard to hide from someone at Camp Half-Blood; there are plenty of activities to busy yourself with, and Nico chooses to hide himself behind the human wall of Jason and Percy at meals.

Kayla and Austin had seemed to be none the wiser, gratefully letting Will take their shifts, as a “brother’s treat”. Will assumes they think that he’s over the moon about Nico, and is using their shifts as an opportunity to spend more time with him. Maybe in another world, it could have been. But in this one, Will busies himself with healing others and stares at his finger when he gets a papercut, hoping that somewhere across camp, Nico di Angelo is looking at his pinky too.

But tomorrow Percy’s leaving. Tomorrow Lou Ellen’s leaving.

Tomorrow is going to be different.

Maybe that’s why Jason and Percy choose to come to the infirmary. Will thinks that it’s probably more Jason that knows what’s going on, that Nico’s probably just that bit more open with him - but honestly, it’s Percy that he’s more scared of.

Will tries to busy himself with a satyr that’s hopped in, a huge gash along his arm from he ran into a tree. Will doesn’t know when they’re going to learn that nature magic doesn’t always _work_ ; maybe they never will. He doesn’t understand why all these satyrs are obsessed with nature, but then again, it seems like Will doesn’t understand a lot of things these days.

“Hey, Will?” There’s a tap on Will’s shoulder as he’s searching through the cabinets for a bandage. Will takes in a sharp breath, then turns around to face Jason Grace.

It’s funny, because Will has heard once or twice that he looks like Jason, but looking at the other boy right now, Will is certain they look nothing alike besides the blonde hair and blue eyes. Jason is cut in sharp lines while Will is all waves. “Yeah? What’s up?” Will asks nonchalantly, like there’s nothing wrong.

“Can we talk to you?” It’s Percy this time.

“You’re going to have to give me a second.” Will doesn’t mean to sound as harsh as he does (which, albeit, is not that much), but he _does_ have to deal with the satyr. “I just need to bandage his arm up.”

Will’s hands are shaking as he wraps the fabric around the satyr’s arm. It’s not that he’s _scared_ of Jason and Percy, not more than a regular person would be scared of someone who managed to defeat giants, but it’s that - it’s what they have to say. What if they’re Nico’s messengers?

It’s then that Will realizes that deep down, there’s been a flame of hope fluttering in his stomach. He doesn’t know what he’d do if his _soulmate_ doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. Will grew up thinking that he would never find his soulmate, but somewhere along the way, he’s allowed himself to hope, and he thinks the rejection will be too much to bear.

He’s done wrapping the satyr’s arm. The next couple of minutes - Will ushering the satyr out, scrubbing his hands clean, turning to face Jason and Percy while _casually_ leaning against the closet - pass by in a blur. Until he’s standing in front of them and waiting for them to say something.

“So, uh…” Percy starts, but drifts off. Helplessly, he turns to Jason. “How are we supposed to start this?”

“You’re the one who wanted to ‘stick up for the little dude,’ ” Jason replies. Will’s eyes widen.

Percy waves his hands in the air. “But like-”

“Is this about Nico?” Will asks. His voice is a mix of hope and wish and fear. He doesn’t mean to interrupt Percy, but really, this is freaking him out. Especially since nobody else is in there, besides Miranda all the way in the back who was recovering from a prank from the Hermes cabin. She can’t exactly protect him, though.

“Yeah,” Jason responds. “He hasn’t been saying anything to us, but he’s been spending a lot of time with you recently.”

“And now he isn’t,” Percy chimes in.

“Plus he’s been acting a little… under the weather.” It’s like they’re doing this back and forth and it’s making Will’s head spin. Are they trying to pull an older brother kind of thing? Jason’s _literally_ only one year older than Will.

Percy mutters, “That’s one way to put it.”

“Wait, hold up.” Will holds out his hands in front of him. “I’m the wrong person to be asking here.” At the confused expressions on their faces, he continues. “I’m sure you’ve tried your very hardest to get everything you _possibly_ could out of him, but for your information, he’s the one who ran away from me. I did nothing.”

“You did nothing,” Jason responds, seemingly unimpressed.

“Yup.” Will determinedly ignores the white hot of an invisible scratch on his arm. He doesn’t _care_ what Nico’s up to. Obviously Nico doesn’t care about him.

“So, you’re saying that if I stabbed you with Riptide right now-” Will gulps as Percy brandishes his pen. “-Nico wouldn’t suddenly fall over because his stomach felt like it was falling out?”  

Will shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine.” His face is bright red.

Percy studies Will’s face for a moment before turning to Jason. “Dude, I don’t think he’s lying. I really thought they were soulmates.”

The following silence is a little bit too obvious. Will’s a little bit too red, and he’s making a little bit too much eye contact with the floor. His knuckles are white as he balls his hands into fists.

“No, they’re soulmates.” Will can feel Jason’s gaze boring into him. “There’s no other reason that he’d be this red right now.”

“But then why would he be lying,” Percy muses, “Maybe they were dating and they got into a fight.”

“Oh my _gods!”_ Will bursts. He hasn’t been this frustrated in a while. “I don’t know if I’m Nico’s soulmate or what. He discovered he was mine, and he just - _ran.”_ Will makes little running motions with his hands. “So there you go.” Turns out, Will doesn’t just go red from embarrassment. He’s furious. He doesn’t want to have to deal with this, as wonderful as Percy and Jason may be. He doesn’t want to be attacked for doing nothing wrong. He doesn’t want to have to deal with the silent treatment for something that’s supposed to be _wonderful_.

“Oh,” Jason says.

“You know what?” Will stands up straight. “Where is he?” Percy and Jason suddenly look hesitant to speak. “Oh, _now_ you don’t want to say anything.”

“He’s in his cabin,” Percy blurts out.

Jason gives him a look, then sighs. “Well, we tried.”

“If Nico dies, we can say we _did_ try to stop Will.”

Will barely even hears them over the buzzing in his ears. He thinks he’s come to the point where he’s well and truly snapped. Will Solace doesn’t get mad easily, not at all, but now, now he’s ready to fight Nico. Running away from him, honestly? There are things called _discussion_ and _communication_ and does Nico really think that little of Will, that Will would just stay away and ignore him forever?

It looks like Will has a spine after all. Unlucky that it took him this long to find it, but hey, he’s only fifteen. If he’s lucky, he’s only halfway through his life.

Will’s anger pushes him to the Hades cabin in a matter of minutes. He doesn’t even bother to pause when he reaches the looming building, instead pushing the door open with a surge of frustration. Will’s mouth is already open in preparation of shouting at Nico and giving him a piece of his mind.

Unfortunately, it looks like the world has other plans, as the room is empty of any actual person. There’s beds that look like coffins and some of Nico’s stuff scattered across a bed, but as a whole, it’s devoid of life. Will shivers slightly. How does Nico _live here?_

Wait, no. He’s mad at Nico. Percy and Jason must have found a way to warn Nico ahead of time; if only Will had ran just a little bit faster.

He’s just so _sick_ of this.

All Will wants is his happy ending.

Just then, the door to the bathroom opens. “Jas-” Nico cuts off abruptly when he sees Will. “Oh.”

Will opens his mouth. Then closes it again. Nico stares at him. But no, this time, Will’s not going to get tongue tied. This time, Will is full blown _angry._

“What is your _problem?”_

Nico looks shocked. Will takes this as a sign to continue. “You see that you’re my soulmate. Whatever. How is that a reason to _ignore me?_ Shut me out? Did you think I was just going to let that sit? Oh, Will Solace doesn’t do anything, he’s always so chill, right? Will Solace, he doesn’t fight for anything, does he? Well, am I shocking you right now _?”_

Will’s screaming. Nico’s lips are parted slightly, but he can’t seem to be able to find his voice. “All I wanted to do was - _talk,”_ Will continues raggedly, “I get it, I’m not your soulmate or whatever, and you don’t want to be around me, but we can still be _friends._ How many times do I have to tell you that people want to be _around_ you? You can’t just shut people out!”

Nico coughs and clears his throat, but in an awkward, stilted way that makes Will cut off with surprise. “What do you mean you’re not my soulmate?”

Maybe if Will hadn’t been so blisteringly angry, he would have taken more note of what Nico says. As it is, Will is far too mad to think straight. “Well that was made _pretty_ clear,” Will responds with a withering sarcasm that on another day, would have made Nico proud.

“That wasn’t because you weren’t my soulmate,” Nico says it softly, almost like he’s scared of Will. Will’s chest is still heaving. “I was just-”

“You were what?”

“Scared! I was _scared,_ okay? Is that what you want to hear?” Nico finally seems to break.

“Scared?” Will questions. Then again, softer - “ _Scared.”_

“Because a soulmate is - I never thought I had a soulmate! I was fine with it! And then here you come along! It’s a pretty big thing to accept, you know!”

Here they are, two soulmates, two halves of a whole, falling apart. Will should calm down, he knows it. But somehow, all the pent up rage toward Nico, toward his father, toward _everything,_ is spilling out. “That’s why we’re supposed to do it together! That’s the whole freaking point of soulmates! To find your other half! To feel like they do! Oh, _you’re_ fine without a soulmate, but just _maybe,_ I wanted one!” Will feels tears pricking his eyes.

Nico’s face, which before was a pale white, almost as if he had been shocked into silence, has steadily turned redder and redder. His fists are balled up at his sides, and Will thinks that Nico is one wrong sentence away from trying to stab Will with his sword. It’s funny how scary Nico can be when he’s mad, but Will _knows_ Nico would never hurt him - not physically, anyways. “Get out.”

“You’re telling _me_ to get out-”

“Solace, get _out of my cabin!”_ Nico screams, and it would be scary, except his voice cracks in the middle. Something inside of Will melts. He takes a step forward, but then Nico throws his hand out. “I swear, if you move one step closer-”

Will practically trips over himself as he heads toward the door. “Don’t worry, I’m _going_.”

The moment after he leaves the cabin, enters the bright summer day once again, Will roughly wipes his tears off his face. Nico had just admitted that Will was his soulmate, that he was just _scared,_ and what did Will do? Besides fucking everything up? Yell at him.

At the same time, though, Will is so _sick_ of getting abandoned over and over again. He is _sick_ of being avoided.He has a right to be. There’s only so much you could take from someone; Nico can’t hide from his problems his whole life. He doesn’t think people want him? Maybe it’s because he never gives them a chance.

Will needs to get back to the infirmary. He’s supposed to be on duty.

When he re-enters, it’s to a surprising sight. Cecil and Lou Ellen are awkwardly standing next to Jason and Percy. “Will!” Lou Ellen says as soon as he enters. It’s an obvious _we need to talk to you._

“You guys are still here?” Will instead turns to Percy and Jason.

“That was quick,” Jason comments in response.

“Well, I didn’t have that much to say.” That was a lie.

Percy arches an eyebrow. “That’s why your face looks like someone threw a bunch of tomatoes at it?”

Will turns back to his friends. “Why are you guys here? I’m supposed to be healing Miranda.” He waves vaguely in her direction.

“Then you should have been here when we actually came,” Cecil challenges. Will sighs. If there’s one thing he’s not in the mood in for right now, it’s this. He loves Cecil and Lou Ellen a lot, but just - Will needs to talk to them alone, not hang out with Percy and Jason.

“You should probably go talk to Nico,” Will tells the pair. “Tell him… actually, don’t tell him anything from me.” Percy makes a whistling sound; Jason sucks in air through his teeth. Will had been about to say, _Tell him I’m sorry._ But that would sound better coming from Will himself, probably.

The two of them leave. Will collapses onto a bed.

“I fucked up, you guys,” He puts his head in his hands. There’s a creak as Cecil’s weight settles on his left, Lou Ellen’s on his right. “I told Nico that he doesn’t think about other people’s feelings and then he kicked me out of his cabin.”

“Sounds like he’s the one that’s wrong,” Cecil responds.

“Yeah, but he’s scared, you guys. I should have given him time, not yelled at him.”

“Your feelings deserve to be heard,” Lou Ellen says. It’s gentle and soft, not at all like Lou Ellen. Will must be a mess right now.

“But like,” Will pauses, “I _yelled_ at him. I said some other things too.”

“What did you say?” Cecil asks.

“I don’t really want to repeat it.”

“Oh.”

A few more minutes trickle by like this. Hesitantly, Cecil offers, “You guys will make up. Don’t you remember when I poured glue all over Billie? She was really mad at first, but after a few months, she would stop glaring at me every time I passed. And this is your soulmate, so it’ll happen even faster!”

Will resists the urge to snap at him, because this is _so much_ different than the scenario he’s described, but keeps it to himself. Cecil’s just trying to help; it’s not his fault that he’s shit at emotions. “Yeah, that’s true.” Will untangles his legs. “Do you guys know how to fix this?”

Lou Ellen laughs. “You’re asking the worst people. Do you even know us?”

“Right,” Will eases himself up. “I - I feel awful.”

“At least you got your feelings out,” Lou Ellen says. “Better to let it out than keep it pent inside. I still think you’re in the right, but.”

“You two will sort it out,” Cecil pats him on his shoulder. “As a bro, I know these things.”

Will snorts. “Yes, Cecil, god of romance.”

“You know what, Billie does _not_ hate me. I’ve been slowly melting her down. Before you know it, Will, you’ll be the best man at our wedding. And Lou Ellen, you’ll be the maid of honor.”

Lou Ellen cranes her neck to look at Cecil. “Have you ever just considered that _maybe_ , she just doesn’t like you?”

“No way that’s possible,” Will jokes, “Look at this five foot eight hunk of pure muscle. How could you ever _not_ love someone like that?”

“Okay, you’re not one to be talking about scrawniness. Your calf is the size of a freaking needle.” Cecil holds his leg up for comparison. “Mine, on the other hand, is _thick.”_

“With two c’s?” Lou Ellen laughs.

“Don’t you know it.”

“Anyways,” Lou Ellen digresses, “We actually came over here for a reason, believe it or not.”

“Hmm?” Will hums.

“I need to pack up my stuff. Mister neat freak, are you going to help?” Lou Ellen stands up. “And Argus should be coming any second, so don’t say that you have to take care of the infirmary. You know you don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.”

“You don’t have to be so stupidly dedicated all the time, man,” Cecil adds on. “You’ll have plenty of time to do that once Lou Ellen leaves. Come on, we gotta party our brains out for the 3 hours we have before the harpies try to eat us for being in the wrong cabin.”

Will stands up. A grin spreads across Lou Ellen’s brown skin. “Yes! _Sucker!”_

“As if we don’t go through this every year,” Will responds.

“And you’re still a sucker every time.”

As they leave the infirmary, Will feels a smile spreading across his face. As much hype as everyone makes about soulmates, there’s something about friendship that no “halves of a whole” storytelling can ever live up to. If Will knows anything, he knows this. Cecil and Lou Ellen may not be his other half, but they are as vital to him as his arms, his legs.

But Will also knows that tomorrow, he has something else to do.

\---

" _Finally_." The next day, bright and early, Will heads over to Nico's cabin to try to talk to him again. Unfortunately, there's a Piper McLean standing in the way, and if there's anybody that Will's ever been scared of, it's her. After all, she reminds him of a more fierce, more capable Lou Ellen, if Lou Ellen had a slightly odder sense of humor. Which is saying something, because Lou Ellen's humor isn't typical.

"I want to apologize," Will says, softly.

"Apologize, my foot." Will's never seen Piper this protective of Nico. More often than not, it's Percy and Jason that are around Nico, but somehow, Piper’s been assigned this role today. Maybe after the way the pair of them had handled the previous encounter, Jason’s been demoted.

See, Will wants to tell Nico, people care about you. Don’t push them away.

“I’m serious,” Will says. “You have no idea how bad I feel about this whole thing. I feel _terrible._ I know I screwed up. I get if Nico never wants to talk to me again. Can I just- can I have a second chance?”

“See, you’re asking the wrong person,” Piper says, “I’m supposed to be guarding the door from you. But from what I’ve seen, the two of you are acting like a pair of idiots, so I was just going to let you in anyways. That explanation is so cute, though.”

Just then, the door opens. “Piper, let him in,” Nico says, annoyed. But Will barely notices the tone, because he can’t stop staring at Nico, who frankly, looks _terrible._ His undereye circles are far bigger than they normally are, which is saying something, and his cheeks are a little bit hollower. The medic in Will wants to feed him some food asap.

Piper rolls her eyes. “I was going to anyways,” she grumbles.

“So?” Nico asks, and involuntarily, Will flinches. The look in Nico’s eye shows that he catches it. “Just come in, Solace.”

Will goes in. He doesn't really know what to do besides stand there awkwardly. After all, Nico's just standing there with his arms crossed. "So..." Will drifts off. There have plenty of times in Will's life where he's felt awkward, but somehow, this is more important. This is his soulmate standing in front of him.

"You wanted to talk, right?" Nico gestures in front of him brusquely. "So what did you want to say?"

Will thinks Nico has a right to be mad, but not this mad. But he swallows up that bit of frustration and continues. "I - I wanted to apologize. I was completely out of order yesterday."

Nico stays silent.

Will swallows and continues. "So I just wanted to say... your soulmate is your journey. You get to choose how you deal with it. Whatever you decide, I'll completely understand." Except the gods said that people were two halves of a whole. That they were meant to be put together. That without their other half, people would just be drifting their whole lives without an anchor.

At the same time, Will isn't so sure that that whole idea is true. He had been happy without Nico, and he's sure that he'd be okay without. But it's just that - fulfillment. That feeling that rises up in Will's chest whenever he sees him. The slight blush that seems to rise up in his cheeks. Will doesn't want to let this go.

There's a beat of silence before Nico responds. "You're right. It is my decision." It's a little bit harsh, but somehow, Will can tell that he isn’t done. “But I messed up too.”

He doesn't seem to want to continue, but Will wants to hear this. "Yeah?" he prompts. Nico shoots him a slightly angry look but seems to gather some of his courage and speak.

"I shouldn't have run away. That wasn't fair to you and it wasn't fair to me. I - I _know_ I shouldn’t be this mad. I’m sorry for putting you through this." Wow, Nico's even worse with feelings than Will is - he seems to be stumbling over his words, trying to figure out some way to say what he wants to without sounding like a total idiot. "This is a lot."

"I get it," Will says, "I mean, I figured it out weeks and weeks ago. But you had to deal with it in an instant."

"Weeks ago?" Nico shoots Will a puzzled look. "How?"

"Hmm..." Will pretends to think. "Who else would be dense enough to let their arm be mauled by a werewolf?"

"Excuse me if I was trying to save the world-"

"We get it, Nico di Angelo, saver of souls and Camp Half Blood." Will's smiling, and he can see a faint hint of... something on Nico's. It's enough for Will.

"I did not say that!"

"You implied it."

"Whatever, Solace." The scowl on Nico's face is fake; it's like the one that Nico had given him at the campfire, before everything. When they were just Will and Nico, having a nice time together. They could be that again. But Will has decided that whatever Nico wants to do, he'll live with. Boyfriends or friends or not even that - though hopefully it's the first one and not the last.

"So... " Will drifts off. "Do you - do you know what you want to do?"

Nico’s head snaps up. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Will stares at him. _“No.”_

“I want to be your friend.” Will’s heart sinks, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it. “At least.” That addition sends Will’s heart in a frenzy.

“That’s still not obvious, Nico.”

“I’m _trying!”_ Nico is obviously frustrated. “You try telling someone your feelings!”

“Sure,” Will nods. “See, there’s this boy, and his name’s Nico. I really like him, soulmate or not, but he’s too dense to realize that or do anything about it. So I’m wondering if he wants to go out with me eventually or if I should go back and hide in the infirmary forever.”

Will’s heart is falling out of his chest.

Nico is speechless.

After a few seconds tick by, Will clears his throat. “Um, you do realize that was a question, right?” His cheeks are burning.

“What?” Nico shakes his head. “Yeah. I mean _yeah,_ eventually.”

“Do you have a specific date in mind?” Will questions, trying to sound casual. “Or just like in the hazy future?”

“Tomorrow?” Nico responds, and Will can feel the grin stretching across his face. This is all so _awkward,_ and fumbling, and it’s absolutely _perfect._ It’s everything that fifteen years olds should be. Yeah, it's not perfect, not at all, but Will will take it, hands down. If it means that he'll get to keep seeing Nico, he has nothing to complain about. Nico, his _soulmate_ , actually likes him back.

Twelve-year-old Will can't imagine his soulmate liking him back. Ten year old Will would never have imagined a soulmate, his other half, that's a boy. Eight year old Will would have never have imagined having a soulmate at all.

And yet, here he is, with a grin on his face and a plan for the future. Here he is, standing up for something and someone he believes in. He thinks his past selves would be proud.

"That sounds great." Will stands there for a second, until he hears the sign of Piper flopping against the door, probably making her way to sitting on the ground. He feels a little bit bad, but technically, she was there to guard the cabin from him. Imagine what the world would have been like if she had actually tried. "Should we tell her that she can leave?"

"Nah, she can stay there." Nico smiles slyly at Will, and it feels like Will's melting. "I think your friends Lou Ellen and Cecil might come and break the door down eventually, though."

"Yeah, we better leave," Will says. Neither of them make a move toward the door. After a second, Will snorts, followed by an echo from Nico. He doesn't think he's ever heard Nico laugh this much, and it makes Will feel like all his systems are going haywire. "Okay, seriously. Here, you can be my assistant in the infirmary. I gave you all that knowledge on bandaging, after all." Will wiggles his eyebrows.

"Your head is in the gutter," Nico proclaims.

"Oh, but you know you like it." Will heads towards the door. His hand is on the handle, when suddenly, he turns to Nico, holding out his hand. "Ready?" he asks.

A slight smile slides onto Nico's lips; it warms up his whole face.  Nico slips his hand into Will's.

"Ready.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me way too long so PLEASE validate me with comments and kudos :D contact me on my [ tumblr](https://nottical.tumblr.com) if you have any questions or prompts for future fics!!!!!! (also lmao u guys are never getting a kiss from me... my 2 completed works have exactly zero (0) kissing and i intend to keep it that way)


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